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Selected Verse: Job 24:1 - Strong Concordance
Verse |
Translation |
Text |
Job 24:1 |
Strong Concordance |
Why, seeing times [06256] are not hidden [06845] from the Almighty [07706], do they that know [03045] him not see [02372] his days [03117]? |
|
King James |
Why, seeing times are not hidden from the Almighty, do they that know him not see his days? |
Summary Of Commentaries Associated With The Selected Verse
A Commentary, Critical, Practical, and Explanatory on the Old and New Testaments, by Robert Jamieson, A.R. Fausset and David Brown [1882] |
(Job 24:1-25)
Why is it that, seeing that the times of punishment (Eze 30:3; "time" in the same sense) are not hidden from the Almighty, they who know Him (His true worshippers, Job 18:21) do not see His days (of vengeance; Joe 1:15; Pe2 3:10)? Or, with UMBREIT less simply, making the parallel clauses more nicely balanced, Why are not times of punishment hoarded up ("laid up"; Job 21:19; appointed) by the Almighty? that is, Why are they not so appointed as that man may now see them? as the second clause shows. Job does not doubt that they are appointed: nay, he asserts it (Job 21:30); what he wishes is that God would let all now see that it is so. |
Notes on the Bible, by Albert Barnes, [1834] |
Why, seeing times are not hidden froth the Almighty - Dr. Good renders this,
"Wherefore are not doomdays kept by the Almighty.
So that his offenders may eye his periods?"
Dr. Noyes:
"Why are not times of punishment reserved by the Almighty.
And why do not they, who regard him, see his judgments?"
Jerome, "Times are not hidden from the Almighty; but they who know him are ignorant of his days." The Septuagint, "But why have set times - ὧραι hōrai, escaped the notice - ἔλαθον elathon - of the Almighty, and the wicked transgressed all bounds? The word עתים ‛êthı̂ym, here translated "times," is rendered by the Chaldee (עדניא), "set times," times appointed for an assembly or a trial, beforehand designated for any purpose. The Hebrew word properly means, set time, fit and proper times; and in the plural, as used here, means "seasons," Est 1:13; Ch1 12:32; and then vicissitudes of things, fortunes, destinies; Psa 31:16; Ch1 29:30. Here it means, probably, the vicissitudes of things, or what actually occurs. All changes are known to God. He sees good and bad times; he sees the changes that take place among people. And since he sees all this, Job asks, with concern, Why is it that God does not come forth to deal with people according to their true character? That this was the fact, he proceeds to show further in illustration of the position which he had maintained in Job 21 by specifying a number of additional cases where the wicked undeniably prospered. It was this which perplexed him so much, for he did not doubt that their conduct was clearly known to God. If their conduct had been unknown to God, it would not have been a matter of surprise that they should go unpunished. But since all their ways were clearly seen by him, it might well excite inquiry why they were permitted thus to prosper. "He" believed that they were reserved to a future day of wrath, Job 21:30; Job 24:23-24. They would be punished in due time, but it was not a fact as his friends alleged, that they were punished in this life according to their deeds.
Do they that know him? - His true friends; the pious.
Not see his days - The days of his wrath, or the day when he punishes the wicked. Why are they not permitted to see him come forth to take vengeance on his foes? The phrase "his days" means the days when God would come forth to punish his enemies. They are called "his days," because at that time God would be the prominent object that would excite attention. They would be days when he would manifest himself in a manner so remarkable as to characterize the period. Thus, the day of judgment is called the day "of the Son of Man," or "his day" Luk 17:24, because at that time the Lord Jesus will be the prominent and glorious object that shall give character to the day. The "question" here seems to have been asked by Job mainly to call attention to "the fact" which he proceeds to illustrate. The fact was undeniable. Job did "not" maintain, as Eliphaz had charged on him Job 22:12-14, that the reason why God did not punish them was, that he could not see their deeds. He admitted most fully that God did see them, and understood all that they did. In this they were agreed. Since this was so, the question was why the wicked were spared, and lived in prosperity. The fact that it was so, Job affirms. The "reason" why it was so, was the subject of inquiry now. This was perplexing, and Job could solve it only by referring to what was to come hereafter. |
Commentary on the Old Testament, by Carl Friedrich Keil and Franz Delitzsch [1857-78] |
1 Wherefore are not bounds reserved by the Almighty,
And they who honour Him see not His days?
2 They remove the landmarks,
They steal flocks and shepherd them.
3 They carry away the ass of the orphan,
And distrain the ox of the widow.
4 They thrust the needy out of the way,
The poor of the land are obliged to slink away together.
The supposition that the text originally stood מדּוּע לרשׁעים משּׁדּי is natural; but it is at once destroyed by the fact that Job 24:1 becomes thereby disproportionately long, and yet cannot be divided into two lines of comparatively independent contents. In fact, לרשׁעים is by no means absolutely necessary. The usage of the language assumes it, according to which את followed by the genitive signifies the point of time at which any one's fate is decided. Isa 13:22; Jer 27:7; Eze 22:3; Eze 30:3; the period when reckoning is made, or even the terminus ad quem, Ecc 9:12; and ywm followed by the gen. of a man, the day of his end, Job 15:32; Job 18:20; Eze 21:30, and freq.; or with יהוה, the day when God's judgment is revealed, Joe 1:15, and freq. The boldness of poetic language goes beyond this usage, by using עתּים directly of the period of punishment, as is almost universally acknowledged since Schultens' day, and ימיו dna ,y of God's days of judgment or of vengeance;
(Note: On עתים, in the sense of times of retribution, Wetzstein compares the Arab. ‛idât, which signifies predetermined reward or punishment; moreover, עת is derived from עדת (from ועד), and עתּים is equivalent to עדתּים, according to the same law of assimilation, by which now-a-days they say לתּי instead of לדתּי (one who is born on the same day with me, from Arab. lidat, lida), and רתּי instead of רדתּי (my drinking-time), since the assimilation of the ד takes place everywhere where ת is pronounced. The ת of the feminine termination in עתים, as in שׁקתות and the like, perhaps also in בתים (bâttim), is amalgamated with the root.)
and it is the less ambiguous, since צפן, in the sense of the divine predetermination of what is future, Job 15:20, especially of God's storing up merited punishment, Job 21:19, is an acknowledged word of our poet. On מן with the passive, vid., Ew. 295, c (where, however, Job 28:4 is erroneously cited in its favour); it is never more than equivalent to ἀπό, for to use מן directly as ὑπό with the passive is admissible neither in Hebrew nor in Arabic. ידעו (Keri ידעיו, for which the Targ. unsuitably reads ידעי) are, as in Psa 36:11; Psa 87:4, comp. supra, Job 18:21, those who know God, not merely superficially, but from experience of His ways, consequently those who are in fellowship with Him. לא חזוּ is to be written with Zinnorith over the לא, and Mercha by the first syllable of חזו. The Zinnorith necessitates the retreat of the tone of חזו to its first syllable, as in כי־חרה, Psa 18:8 (Br's Pslaterium, p. xiii.); for if חזו remained Milra, לא ought to be connected with it by Makkeph, and consequently remain toneless (Psalter, ii. 507).
Next follows the description of the moral, abhorrence which, while the friends (Job 22:19) maintain a divine retribution everywhere manifest, is painfully conscious of the absence of any determination of the periods and days of judicial punishment. Fearlessly and unpunished, the oppression of the helpless and defenceless, though deserving of a curse, rages in every form. They remove the landmarks; comp. Deu 27:17, "Cursed is he who removeth his neighbour's landmark" (מסּיג, here once written with שׂ, while otherwise השּׂיג from נשׂג signifies assequi, on the other hand הסּיג from סוּג signifies dimovere). They steal flocks, ויּרעוּ, i.e., they are so barefaced, that after they have stolen them they pasture them openly. The ass of the orphans, the one that is their whole possession, and their only beast for labour, they carry away as prey (נהג, as e.g., Isa 20:4); they distrain, i.e., take away with them as a pledge (on חבל, to bind by a pledge, obstringere, and also to take as a pledge, vid., on Job 22:6, and Khler on Zac 11:7), the yoke-ox of the widow (this is the exact meaning of שׁור, as of the Arab. thôr). They turn the needy aside from the way which they are going, so that they are obliged to wander hither and thither without home or right: the poor of the land are obliged to hide themselves altogether. The Hiph. הטּה, with אביונים as its obj., is used as in Amo 5:12; there it is used of turning away from a right that belongs to them, here of turning out of the way into trackless regions. אביון (vid., on Job 29:16) here, as frequently, is the parallel word with ענו, the humble one, the patient sufferer; instead of which the Keri is עני, the humbled, bowed down with suffering (vid., on Psa 9:13). ענוי־ארץ without any Keri in Psa 76:10; Zep 2:3, and might less suitably appear here, where it is not so much the moral attribute as the outward condition that is intended to be described. The Pual חכּאוּ describes that which they are forced to do.
The description of these unfortunate ones is now continued; and by a comparison with Job 30:1-8, it is probable that aborigines who are turned out of their original possessions and dwellings are intended (comp. Job 15:19, according to which the poet takes his stand in an age in which the original relations of the races had been already disturbed by the calamities of war and the incursions of aliens). If the central point of the narrative lies in Haurn, or, more exactly, in the Nukra, it is natural, with Wetzstein, to think of the Arab. 'hl 'l-wukr or ‛rb 'l-ḥujr, i.e., the (perhaps Ituraean) "races of the caves" in Trachonitis. |
Explanatory Notes on the Whole Bible, by John Wesley [1754-65] |
Why - Why (how comes it to pass) seeing times, (the fittest seasons for every, action, and particularly for the punishment of wicked men,) are not hidden from, or unknown to the Almighty God, (seeing all times, and men that live, and things that are done, or to be done in their times and seasons, are exactly known to God) do they that know him, (who love and obey him) not see (whence is it that they cannot discern) his (that is, God's) days? His times and seasons which he takes for the punishment of ungodly men; which if they were constant and fixed in this life, they would not be unknown to good men, to whom God uses to reveal his secrets. |
Adam Clarke Commentary on the Whole Bible - Published 1810-1826 |
Why, seeing times are not hidden from the Almighty - Mr. Good translates: "Wherefore are not doomsdays kept by the Almighty, so that his offenders may eye their periods?" Doomsdays are here used in the same sense as term times; and the wish is, that God would appoint such times that the falsely accused might look forward to them with comfort; knowing that, on their arrival, they should have a fair hearing, and their innocence be publicly declared; and their detractors, and the unjust in general, meet with their deserts. But God reserves the knowledge of these things to himself. "The holy patriarch," says Mr. Good, "has uniformly admitted that in the aggregate scale of Providence the just are rewarded and the wicked punished for their respective deeds, in some period or other of their lives. But he has contended in various places, and especially in Job 21:7-13, that the exceptions to this general rule are numerous: so numerous, as to be sufficient to render the whole scheme of providential interposition perfectly mysterious and incomprehensible, Job 23:8-12; so in the passage before us: if the retribution ye speak of be universal, and which I am ready to admit to a certain extent to be true and unquestionable, I not only ask, Why do the just ever suffer in the midst of their righteousness? but, Why do not the wicked see such retribution displayed before their eyes by stated judgments, so that they may at one and the same time know and tremble?" |
30 That the wicked [07451] is reserved [02820] to the day [03117] of destruction [0343]? they shall be brought forth [02986] to the day [03117] of wrath [05678].
19 God [0433] layeth up [06845] his iniquity [0205] for his children [01121]: he rewardeth [07999] him, and he shall know [03045] it.
10 But [1161] the day [2250] of the Lord [2962] will come [2240] as [5613] a thief [2812] in [1722] the night [3571]; in [1722] the which [3739] the heavens [3772] shall pass away [3928] with a great noise [4500], and [1161] the elements [4747] shall melt [3089] with fervent heat [2741], the earth [1093] also [2532] and [2532] the works [2041] that are therein [1722] [846] shall be burned up [2618].
15 Alas [0162] for the day [03117]! for the day [03117] of the LORD [03068] is at hand [07138], and as a destruction [07701] from the Almighty [07706] shall it come [0935].
21 Surely such are the dwellings [04908] of the wicked [05767], and this is the place [04725] of him that knoweth [03045] not God [0410].
3 For the day [03117] is near [07138], even the day [03117] of the LORD [03068] is near [07138], a cloudy [06051] day [03117]; it shall be the time [06256] of the heathen [01471].
12 Is not God [0433] in the height [01363] of heaven [08064]? and behold [07200] the height [07218] of the stars [03556], how high [07311] they are!
13 And thou sayest [0559], How doth God [0410] know [03045]? can he judge [08199] through the dark cloud [06205]?
14 Thick clouds [05645] are a covering [05643] to him, that he seeth [07200] not; and he walketh [01980] in the circuit [02329] of heaven [08064].
24 For [1063] as [5618] the lightning [796], that lighteneth [797] out of [1537] the one part under [5259] heaven [3772], shineth [2989] unto [1519] the other part under [5259] heaven [3772]; so [3779] shall also [2532] the Son [5207] of man [444] be [2071] in [1722] his [846] day [2250].
23 Though it be given [05414] him to be in safety [0983], whereon he resteth [08172]; yet his eyes [05869] are upon their ways [01870].
24 They are exalted [07426] for a little while [04592], but are gone and brought low [04355]; they are taken out [07092] of the way [01870] as all other, and cut off [05243] as the tops [07218] of the ears of corn [07641].
30 That the wicked [07451] is reserved [02820] to the day [03117] of destruction [0343]? they shall be brought forth [02986] to the day [03117] of wrath [05678].
30 With all his reign [04438] and his might [01369], and the times [06256] that went over [05674] him, and over Israel [03478], and over all the kingdoms [04467] of the countries [0776].
16 Make thy face [06440] to shine [0215] upon thy servant [05650]: save [03467] me for thy mercies [02617]' sake.
32 And of the children [01121] of Issachar [03485], which were men that had understanding [0998] [03045] of the times [06256], to know [03045] what Israel [03478] ought to do [06213]; the heads [07218] of them were two hundred [03967]; and all their brethren [0251] were at their commandment [06310].
13 Then the king [04428] said [0559] to the wise men [02450], which knew [03045] the times [06256], (for so was the king's [04428] manner [01697] toward [06440] all that knew [03045] law [01881] and judgment [01779]:
19 Unto whom alone the earth [0776] was given [05414], and no stranger [02114] passed [05674] among [08432] them.
1 But now they that are younger [06810] [03117] than I have me in derision [07832], whose fathers [01] I would have disdained [03988] to have set [07896] with the dogs [03611] of my flock [06629].
2 Yea, whereto [04100] might the strength [03581] of their hands [03027] profit me, in whom old age [03624] was perished [06]?
3 For want [02639] and famine [03720] they were solitary [01565]; fleeing [06207] into the wilderness [06723] in former time [0570] desolate [07722] and waste [04875].
4 Who cut up [06998] mallows [04408] by the bushes [07880], and juniper [07574] roots [08328] for their meat [03899].
5 They were driven forth [01644] from among [01460] men, (they cried [07321] after them as after a thief [01590];)
6 To dwell [07931] in the clifts [06178] of the valleys [05158], in caves [02356] of the earth [06083], and in the rocks [03710].
7 Among the bushes [07880] they brayed [05101]; under the nettles [02738] they were gathered together [05596].
8 They were children [01121] of fools [05036], yea, children [01121] of base men [08034]: they were viler [05217] than the earth [0776].
3 Seek [01245] ye the LORD [03068], all ye meek [06035] of the earth [0776], which have wrought [06466] his judgment [04941]; seek [01245] righteousness [06664], seek [01245] meekness [06038]: it may be [0194] ye shall be hid [05641] in the day [03117] of the LORD'S [03068] anger [0639].
10 Surely the wrath [02534] of man [0120] shall praise [03034] thee: the remainder [07611] of wrath [02534] shalt thou restrain [02296].
13 Have mercy [02603] upon me, O LORD [03068]; consider [07200] my trouble [06040] which I suffer of them that hate [08130] me, thou that liftest me up [07311] from the gates [08179] of death [04194]:
16 I was a father [01] to the poor [034]: and the cause [07379] which I knew [03045] not I searched out [02713].
12 For I know [03045] your manifold [07227] transgressions [06588] and your mighty [06099] sins [02403]: they afflict [06887] the just [06662], they take [03947] a bribe [03724], and they turn aside [05186] the poor [034] in the gate [08179] from their right.
7 And I will feed [07462] the flock [06629] of slaughter [02028], even you [03651], O poor [06041] of the flock [06629]. And I took [03947] unto me two [08147] staves [04731]; the one [0259] I called [07121] Beauty [05278], and the other [0259] I called [07121] Bands [02254]; and I fed [07462] the flock [06629].
6 For thou hast taken a pledge [02254] from thy brother [0251] for nought [02600], and stripped [06584] the naked [06174] of their clothing [0899].
4 So shall the king [04428] of Assyria [0804] lead away [05090] the Egyptians [04714] prisoners [07628], and the Ethiopians [03568] captives [01546], young [05288] and old [02205], naked [06174] and barefoot [03182], even with their buttocks [08357] uncovered [02834], to the shame [06172] of Egypt [04714].
17 Cursed [0779] be he that removeth [05253] his neighbour's [07453] landmark [01366]. And all the people [05971] shall say [0559], Amen [0543].
19 The righteous [06662] see [07200] it, and are glad [08055]: and the innocent [05355] laugh them to scorn [03932].
8 There went up [05927] a smoke [06227] out of his nostrils [0639], and fire [0784] out of his mouth [06310] devoured [0398]: coals [01513] were kindled [01197] by it.
21 Surely such are the dwellings [04908] of the wicked [05767], and this is the place [04725] of him that knoweth [03045] not God [0410].
4 I will make mention [02142] of Rahab [07294] and Babylon [0894] to them that know [03045] me: behold Philistia [06429], and Tyre [06865], with Ethiopia [03568]; this man was born [03205] there.
11 Let not the foot [07272] of pride [01346] come [0935] against me, and let not the hand [03027] of the wicked [07563] remove [05110] me.
4 The flood [05158] breaketh out [06555] from the inhabitant [01481]; even the waters forgotten [07911] of the foot [07272]: they are dried up [01809], they are gone away [05128] from men [0582].
19 God [0433] layeth up [06845] his iniquity [0205] for his children [01121]: he rewardeth [07999] him, and he shall know [03045] it.
20 The wicked [07563] man travaileth [02342] with pain all his days [03117], and the number [04557] of years [08141] is hidden [06845] to the oppressor [06184].
15 Alas [0162] for the day [03117]! for the day [03117] of the LORD [03068] is at hand [07138], and as a destruction [07701] from the Almighty [07706] shall it come [0935].
30 Shall I cause it to return [07725] into his sheath [08593]? I will judge [08199] thee in the place [04725] where thou wast created [01254], in the land [0776] of thy nativity [04351].
20 They that come after [0314] him shall be astonied [08074] at his day [03117], as they that went before [06931] were affrighted [0270] [08178].
32 It shall be accomplished [04390] before [03808] his time [03117], and his branch [03712] shall not be green [07488].
12 For man [0120] also knoweth [03045] not his time [06256]: as the fishes [01709] that are taken [0270] in an evil [07451] net [04685], and as the birds [06833] that are caught [0270] in the snare [06341]; so [01992] are the sons [01121] of men [0120] snared [03369] in an evil [07451] time [06256], when it falleth [05307] suddenly [06597] upon them.
3 For the day [03117] is near [07138], even the day [03117] of the LORD [03068] is near [07138], a cloudy [06051] day [03117]; it shall be the time [06256] of the heathen [01471].
3 Then say [0559] thou, Thus saith [0559] the Lord [0136] GOD [03069], The city [05892] sheddeth [08210] blood [01818] in the midst [08432] of it, that her time [06256] may come [0935], and maketh [06213] idols [01544] against herself to defile [02930] herself.
7 And all nations [01471] shall serve [05647] him, and his son [01121], and his son's [01121] son [01121], until the very time [06256] of his land [0776] come [0935]: and then many [07227] nations [01471] and great [01419] kings [04428] shall serve [05647] themselves of him.
22 And the wild beasts of the islands [0338] shall cry [06030] in their desolate houses [0490], and dragons [08577] in their pleasant [06027] palaces [01964]: and her time [06256] is near [07138] to come [0935], and her days [03117] shall not be prolonged [04900].
1 Why, seeing times [06256] are not hidden [06845] from the Almighty [07706], do they that know [03045] him not see [02372] his days [03117]?
8 Behold, I go [01980] forward [06924], but he is not there; and backward [0268], but I cannot perceive [0995] him:
9 On the left hand [08040], where he doth work [06213], but I cannot behold [02372] him: he hideth [05848] himself on the right hand [03225], that I cannot see [07200] him:
10 But he knoweth [03045] the way [01870] that I take [05978]: when he hath tried [0974] me, I shall come forth [03318] as gold [02091].
11 My foot [07272] hath held [0270] his steps [0838], his way [01870] have I kept [08104], and not declined [05186].
12 Neither have I gone back [04185] from the commandment [04687] of his lips [08193]; I have esteemed [06845] the words [0561] of his mouth [06310] more than my necessary [02706] food.
7 Wherefore do the wicked [07563] live [02421], become old [06275], yea, are mighty [01396] in power [02428]?
8 Their seed [02233] is established [03559] in their sight [06440] with them, and their offspring [06631] before their eyes [05869].
9 Their houses [01004] are safe [07965] from fear [06343], neither is the rod [07626] of God [0433] upon them.
10 Their bull [07794] gendereth [05674], and faileth [01602] not; their cow [06510] calveth [06403], and casteth not her calf [07921].
11 They send forth [07971] their little ones [05759] like a flock [06629], and their children [03206] dance [07540].
12 They take [05375] the timbrel [08596] and harp [03658], and rejoice [08055] at the sound [06963] of the organ [05748].
13 They spend [03615] [01086] their days [03117] in wealth [02896], and in a moment [07281] go down [02865] [05181] to the grave [07585].